Human activities are changing the climate – So say the Scientists

The global-warming deniers would have us believe scientists really know better, but they’re a part of some global conspiracy by Western Governments to tax us into oblivion – like that makes any sense!

What Government would agree to introduce unpopular taxes which only future governments will benefit from? Most governments have three-to-four year terms, and unfortunately tend to think no further ahead than their immediate term.

The CSIRO produced a small bite-sized Fact Sheet on the Human Impact on Global Warming, and it’s a good starting point if you’re currently buying into the supposed lack of consensus amongst experts, which doesn’t exist, given that the vast majority of experts in the field support the notion that the climate is changing and humans are the primary cause.

There is a greater than 90 per cent likelihood that most of the global warming since the mid 20th century is due to increases in greenhouse gas emissions from human activities.

CSIRO Global Warming Fact Sheet

I seem to encounter more global warming ‘fence-sitters’ every week of late, a trend that concerns me considering Australians have largely accepted the notion of the greenhouse-effect since the late 1980’s, and are only now becoming sceptical because of the media’s coverage of the deniers’ claims.

This artificial homage to ‘balanced reporting’ is creating a feeling amongst average-Joe/Jill that scientists are arguing over the very notion of global warming and its long-term effects, but this isn’t at all the case with experts in the field, who may disagree at the detail level, but that’s all. The bigger picture is supported by so many independent lines of evidence that any trace of dissent in the ranks of climate-scientists disappeared years ago. Now only crack-pots like Lord Christopher Monckton, who isn’t now, nor has he ever been a scientist, are getting air-play for their denialist views.

Thankfully there are plenty of sources of information on real climate science for anyone who cares to look. A great starting point is the SkepticalScience website (which has a companion iPhone app so you can learn the facts at your leisure). This site has a summary of the current arguments against climate change, followed by the current understanding supported by science. As is so often the case with conspiracy theories, the arguments fail when scrutinised to any degree with actual facts at hand, so go do some reading and draw the only reasonable conclusion – if we don’t make some radical changes at a global level, humans three generations from now will be living on a very different Earth to the one we’re so lucky to know.

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